The Collection

The Rubin Museum of Art has the largest Western collection of religious art from cultures of the Himalayan mountain range, including those of Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan as well as the interrelated traditions of India, Mongolia, and China. The Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world and form an imposing geographical barrier. This has created a cultural threshold between the region and the other great cultures of Asia, allowing for the flourishing of distinctly Himalayan artistic traditions. The museum's collection is primarily made up of scroll paintings (thangka) and sculptures form the region, but also includes a wide variety of artifacts, such as masks, textiles, and illuminated manuscripts.

The Rubin Museum is currently redesigning two floors of the museum to feature the collection. The first floor to open will be Gateway to Himalayan Art (opening July 23, 2010), featuring a wide range of art objects intended to introduce this rich heritage. On this floor visitors will become acquainted with the common visual language of Himalayan art, the materials and techniques used in creating these works, and the principal purposes for producing them. The variety and quality of Himalayan artistic traditions represented in the Rubin Museum's collection will be highlighted on the second floor to open, Masterpieces of Himalayan Art (opening March 11, 2011). This exhibition introduces the main branches and styles of Himalayan art, their resonance and dialogue with neighboring traditions, and major visual changes over the last millennium.

 

Featured Collection Objects

Curators' picks of collection objects currently on view in the museum's galleries.

 

Buddha Heruka Presiding over the Assembly of Wrathful Deities from the exhibition Bardo: Tibetan Art of the Afterlife	Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha from the exhibition Remember That You Will Die: Death Across Cultures

New Acquisitions

The Rubin Museum is actively growing its collection of historically and artistically significant objects from the Himalayan region. Below are a few highlights of our newest acquisitions.

Sahaja Chakrasamvara; Kham Province, eastern Tibet; 18th century; Pigments on cloth; C2009.5 (HAR 65846)	Great Hierarch; Tibet; 16th or 17th century; Parcel-gilt silver, pigments; C2009.12
Vajravarahi (Vajrayogini); Bhutan; 18th century; Pigments on cloth; C2009.18